God’s Works Remembered

Berean Baptist on November 6, 2017

He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.

(Psalms 111:4)

As I was thinking on the 111th psalm, verse 4 reminded me of a negative application of the same thought in 2 Peter 1:9:  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. The psalmist said God has made His work to be remembered while Peter said the one who does not care to build on his faith by adding Christian graces will soon forget the mighty works that God has done in his life.

I think it is interesting how many times the Old Testament retells the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. I have commented on this before from other psalms and scripture texts, and here we find it again in more subtle references in the 111th psalm. It seems the crowning achievement of all God’s wonderful works for His people is how God humbled the defiant Egyptian Pharaoh and brought His people out with a mighty strong arm. He brought them through the perils of the wilderness and gave them the land promised to Abraham. This is reflected in verse 6: He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen. The scriptures continue to remind of this fact so that Israel would never lose the assurance that God was on their side and would always fulfill His promises to them.

The same is true for the Christian today. Our deliverance in the moment of our salvation when God broke through the stronghold sin had on our hearts is a grand touchstone to return to time and time again. God brought us into the marvelous light of the gospel of Christ and became the author of our eternal salvation. Like Israel’s remembrance of deliverance from Egypt, this is our place of remembrance of God’s wonderful works.

There is, however, another similarity between the 111th psalm and the quest for holiness in 2 Peter 1. Israel was taken into captivity because they forgot what God did for them. They were not careful to maintain their obedience which caused them to fall and to experience bitter chastisement. The Christian has the same propensity if he is not careful to maintain his focus on Christ. We will also fail and find ourselves back in the captivity of sin.

This is what Peter warns against in 2 Peter 1:9. The person who forgets that he was purged from his old sins will soon fall into those old sins again. We are doomed to repeat our past mistakes which is the exact problem with Israel. Old sins always yield the same results—it never changes. The loss of assurance is its fruit; when the fruit of the Christian life should be grace, peace, and the contentment of resting in God’s promises.

As I read the psalm and compared it to 2 Peter, I was also reminded how scripture says Old Testament stories were given to warn us not to fall in the same holes as Israel. We must guard ourselves and be diligent to add all spiritual graces. This is the sure method of never failing to remember God’s wonderful works. Look at the world around you and see the immensity of His power. And then, look into your heart once blackened by sin and see it cleansed by the gospel of Christ. Keep looking and you will never forget the joy of being purged from your old sins.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Avoid the Path to Nowhere

Berean Baptist on August 27, 2017

A few weeks ago in this space, I wrote about spiritual thirst and how important it is to quench this thirst by often visiting God’s word. That article was prompted by my experience in the exercise routine of walking up Taylor Mountain. These walks have been very productive both physically and spiritually as I use the time to think on sermons and pray (yes, you can walk and pray at the same time—no extra coordination required). This past week I developed a sermon outline while walking and had nothing to write on, so I used my iPhone to dictate the points. Passersby must have been a little stunned to hear Exaltation! Encouragement! Equality! as I walked by.

Here is one of the thoughts that came to me on one of the trips last week. At Taylor Mountain, there are well-marked trails that are mapped and traveled by most. I have my own section I walk regularly because I know how long it will take, how difficult it will be, how many miles it covers, and how many calories it will burn. I stick to this section 90% of the time.

I noticed every time on every trip I pass a path off to the right that disappears into the trees. I often wondered where it went but I never took time to explore it. I just kept passing it over and over and kept on walking where I was supposed to. Finally, I decided I had to satisfy my curiosity. I took off down the trail with the lizards and ticks over a creek and up a rocky incline until it leveled off in a clearing. The path was well-worn and then abruptly stopped. There was no trace of it beyond that point.

It turns out the path was well-worn because the many people that traveled that way found out there was no gorgeous view like walking the right path. The path was beaten down because every person made an about face and traveled back the way they came. It occurred to me that the marked trail is the one you are supposed to follow and if you get off it you end up nowhere. This is much like the Christian life. God has the right way for your life marked out clearly in His word. There is a path that wastes no time, produces the right results, and leads straight to the proper destination.

We too easily give into the temptation to that which appears to be a more appealing path and we take a different direction only to find out it leads nowhere. Worse yet, if I had been in a wilderness area, this kind of foray could have led to bewilderment and a nasty fall from a cliff. Fortunately, it is hard to get lost on Taylor Mountain. Not so in life when you leave God’s path. When you are off His trail, there is no guidance. It’s a difficult walk and each step leads you farther and farther away from the one who can help.

The moral of this story is not to yield to the temptation of the new and exciting. The old path is good so don’t pick a new church, don’t pursue a new doctrine, don’t take a new job, don’t get with a new crowd unless you have evaluated each step to see if it is the right way. The reality is that you might be on the wrong path right now. You thought it was right but your faith is weak, your growth is stunted, and your contentment is suffering because you have been going the wrong way far too long.

The goal of Berean is to lead you in God’s path. We stay in God’s word to point you to the spiritual markers that give assurance of the right way. We promise every step will be backed by the scriptures—and with them, you will always end in the beautiful somewhere of God’s glory.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Conditions for Answers

Berean Baptist on February 13, 2017

Psalm 77

Several times in preaching on the need for total dependence upon Christ, I have told the story of a dark period I went through about thirty years ago. This was during an economic downturn in our city when business was failing, and it seemed everything I worked for was ready to collapse. I won’t go into the details now, but that period spawned a real test of faith in which I seriously questioned if God had forgotten His promises.

When I was just a child, my dad taught me to be faithful to the Lord’s work and to always keep up with my tithes and offerings. My first job was working for him, and out of the $10 I received each week I always deducted the proper tithe along with a little extra for missions. I was faithful to do this and I believed if I did there would never be a time I was without.

Up until this difficult time in my life, I never had any serious troubles. Married life was good, finances were good, church was as usual, and faith was never severely tested. The brewing financial storm and prospects of failure changed all of that. Those were the most serious days of prayer in all my life. During this time, I sought solace in the pages of scripture trying to find any passage that would ease my anxiety. One day I was reading 1 John 3:22 for the nth time when the verse popped out on the page: “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” I took this as intended—an absolute promise.

As Christians, we are never in a bargaining position with God over our salvation. Salvation is an irrevocable gift purchased by the blood of Christ and given to us freely. The ability to keep the gift is neither ours as salvation is unconditional no matter how unfaithful at times we may be. However, the realization of peace, assurance, and loving companionship are conditioned upon how we respond in obedience to God’s commands. Please note I said realization of these not the reality of these. For a Christian, an unspiritual mind causes the perception to become perceived reality. John said that whatever we ask we receive with this condition—we must keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.

My determination was to stop the pity party and obey the verse. In fact, I had been obeying the verse, at least in part. I was doing but not asking, or should I say not doing and asking with faith believing. To make a long story short, God turned everything around. My fears were unfounded, and the next year was one of the most financially outstanding of my life.

I wrote this little essay in conjunction with Psalm 77. Note how the psalmist was overwhelmed at the beginning with his personal problem. He was at the point of giving up on God and believed God had given up on him. We don’t know what put him in such despair, but it hardly matters because there are numerous issues that park us beside the psalmist. The situation looked bleak, but as Charles Spurgeon said there would be a good outcome because the first verse starts with a prayer—“I cried unto God with my voice…”

It took ten verses for the psalmist to work through the emotions of his problem. Finally, he took the focus off self and put it on the Lord. He remembered in the worst of times God was always there. In verse 10, he said: “This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.”

Whatever you fear may make the way bleak and nigh impossible. The best course is not to focus on you and the problem, but to focus on God who solves problems. Always remember to keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. These are the conditions to receive what you ask.

Pastor V. Mark Smith